Saturday, November 10, 2012

Human trafficking movies have always interested me. The last good one I saw was Shuttle, the last scene of which totally freaked me out, and I also liked Live Animals.Cargo has a pretty predictable backstory. Some young girls from Russia get offered a modeling contract in America, as long as they fly into Mexico and get transported over the border. Why would anyone think this is legit? They all live together in a sort of brothel, until one day the main character, Natasha (Natasha Rinis) gets chosen for transport to New York.

She puts up quite the fight, but no one is having it. She gets thrown in the back of a van driven by Sayed (Sayed Bedreya) and takes off for Brooklyn, where she will be a prostitute. She really doesn't want to take this ride. She kicks and screams and even knocks the guy in the head with a toilet lid. But he is determined to get her scantily-clad ass to their destination.

Sayed has done this many times before, but throughout the ride, he seems to develop a bit of a soft spot for Natasha. They learn a little bit about each other's lives, and seem to empathize a bit with the other. However, that doesn't mean they would let each other off scot-free.

This movie wasn't groundbreaking, and the end was kind of meh, but overall I did like it. Beautiful scenery, and it appeared like they actually drove the whole way to get the shots. The scenes in Brooklyn appeared especially legit, and they even had an NYPD car! None of this "Metro Police" nonsense. It's no Taken, but a solid human trafficking story overall. Available instant on Netflix.